Guerrilla Games

Jun 22 //
Jordan Devore
Combat isn't anything new for the genre, but after you take enough people out and pick up orbs from fallen foes, you're put into an overdrive mode. It's at this point you need to make a mad dash toward the top of the map where there are ramps leading up to a giant hoop. Jump down through the goal as if you were a basketball to score, but watch out for incoming fire and melee attacks.
If and when your mech is destroyed, you'll eject and skyrocket to the top of the map. You can take in the scenery, or get straight back into the action by looking at one of a few colored spawn points and confirming with a button press. Given the immersion of VR, free-falling felt awesome.
Had the game just been standard team-based combat centered on blowing up mechs, I wouldn't have thought much of it. This mode, Power Slam, really was the best way to introduce it. RIGS won't be a compelling enough reason to own a Morpheus by itself, but it's a good starting point.

'Basketball with guns'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and virtual reality -- those were the two things, by far, I most enjoyed at this year's E3. Steven did an exceptional job of capturing the essence of the former, so now it's on me to ...

Sony gave us a brand new series tonight at their E3 conference in LA, called Horizon Zero Dawn, which is being developed by Guerrilla Games. Or, as our own Zack Furniss calls it -- "Brave with Terminators."
It looks pre...

Sony, Guerrilla, and Killzone are no strangers to controversies about graphics, after their E3 trailer for Killzone 2 was complete and utter bullshot. When it came to light that Killzone: Shadowfall's multiplayer uses a cleve...

It's been a decade since the original Killzone arrive on PlayStaton 2, and Guerrilla Games has seen fit to commemorate the milestone "with the people who made it all possible" -- the fans.
Sure hope you guys like downloadable...

Killzone: Shadow Fall: Intercept is now available as a standalone release via the PlayStation Store.
The four-player co-operative experience is a satisfying addition to the campaign and competitive multiplayer modes. It place...

Jul 03 //
Kyle MacGregor
Killzone: Shadow Fall: Intercept [PlayStation 4]Developer: Guerrilla Games Publisher: Sony Computer EntertainmentReleased: June 25, 2014 / August 2014 (Standalone version)MSRP: $9.99 (free with Season Pass) / $19.99 (Standalone version)
Intercept is essentially a horde mode wherein you and three squadmates must hold down an outpost as waves of enemies crash against your defenses.
Teamwork is key to success in staving off the threat, as players attempt to stockpile enough points to achieve victory. This is done by downing foes, supporting allies, and recapturing beacons from enemy control (more on that later).
There's a catch, though. Points must be banked back at a central base to count toward anything. It's entirely possible to get cut down by a squad of Helghast soldiers whilst en route to cash in your chips. Deciding when to liquidate your funds, though, that's a calculated game of risk and reward.
A timer is constantly counting down, encouraging players to hold out until the clock strikes zero. Waiting until this moment to deposit your stash will level up a multiplier that impacts scoring. It's a compelling gamble that adds to Intercept's intensity, as swarms of Helghast steadily bear down on your position, and you weigh securing objectives against helping an imperiled teammate and trying to stay alive.
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Staying alive is important, as respawning cannibalizes your team's overall score. Once that score hits zero the game is basically over, meaning working together is of the utmost importance. Each player is given a different skillset, including a close-quarters assault trooper, a long-range specialist in the marksman, the defensive-minded tactician, and a support-oriented medic with healing, reviving, and supplying abilities.
It's imperative that players know their roles, as the medic or tactician will get torn to pieces in a headlong firefight, but are indispensable to the team's success. These classes are also great, because they give folks who may not be first-person shooter experts an opportunity to contribute to their unit's success.
While fending for life, players need to control three beacons scattered across the map in a triangle configuration, lest risk seeing the team's overall score dwindle to oblivion. When doing so becomes too stressful, petrusite fuel rods can be inserted into a computer back at your bunker, which activate fun bonuses like mortar strikes, jet packs, miniguns, or turrets.
It's typically a dynamic and engrossing experience, but could use a bit of tinkering in the overall difficulty and balancing department. Waves aren't based on time; rather, they seemingly just happen at random intervals. This means some matches can be spiritless affairs, while others will have you sweating bullets. And your mileage may vary based on the caliber of your teammates.
Intercept is a surprisingly enjoyable experience that entwines havoc, synergy, and drama into a lovely bundle. It's a tad repetitive and light on content, though, so I certainly hope Guerrilla Games continues to support the expansion as it nears the standalone release.

Ordered chaosKillzone: Shadow Fall was a respectable launch game. It showcased the power of the nascent PS4 with scintillating visuals, and paired its aesthetic beauty with a competent campaign and sound multiplayer component.
The s...

More than six months after release, Guerrilla Games' Killzone: Shadow Fall is getting an expansion that reinvents the title's multiplayer aspect. In Intercept, rather than shooting at one another, players are tasked with...

Guerrilla detailed the online cooperative expansion pack Intercept for Killzone: Shadow Fall season pass owners today ahead of its release next month. It's a survival mode for four players, each with a specific role -- Assaul...

It's been over a couple months since the first two free multiplayer maps for Killzone: Shadow Fall dropped, so it's about high time we had another arena to play in, right? Well, have I got news for you! "The Canyon" released...

Guerrilla Games is hiring, and they say they're looking for online designers for a game they've been working on for a couple of years now. This is for an unannounced IP that will feature "innovative online gameplay." They're ...

If you're heading out to PAX East next weekend, you probably have a lot of extra spending money anyway, so why not stop by the PlayStation Worldwide Studios Community Exchange? That's "booth #608" in layman's terms, at the Bo...

Killzone: Shadow Fall Season Pass owners and those with $9.99 to spare can download the game's first big multiplayer offering, the Insurgent Pack, as of today.
There's a lot included here, but the new Insurgent class and its...

Guerrilla Games is celebrating the launch of Killzone: Shadow Fall's first map DLC with a week of free multiplayer. The festivities kick off tomorrow and continue until March 11, giving those without PlayStation Plus subscrip...

In a video about Killzone: Shadow Fall and developer Guerrilla Games posted to the PlayStation Japan YouTube channel, the studio's next project was ever so briefly talked about again.
"We are working on a new IP," said execu...

The update that introduces Guerrilla Games' early work in supporting clans in Killzone: Shadow Fall is available for download as of today. Players can now display their tags as part of their name in-game and invite clan membe...

Killzone: Shadow Fall was the one big old "next gen" carnival Sony had to stick to its PlayStation 4 and it seems that time in the uncontested limelight proved positive for the underdog series.
The PlayStation 4 sold 4.2 mill...

It strikes me as unusual that Killzone: Shadow Fall wouldn't include a clan system out of the gate when that functionality has become so common among not only first-person shooters, but competitive multiplayer games more gene...

Guerrilla Games has given a first look at two upcoming multiplayer maps in Killzone: Shadow Fall. The pair of maps, The Cruiser and The Hangar, are based on environments from the game's single-player campaign -- that often se...

Sony partnered up with Adult Swim recently to task the guys over at Robot Chicken with creating an amusing little ad for Killzone: Shadow Fall. It starts out with Sweet Tooth enjoying the game in his living room, and getting...

A new patch for Guerrilla Games' Killzone: Shadow Fall has been released, altering certain aspects of the game's campaign, fixing various issues, and adding controller support for left-handed players.
Chapters seven...

Fallout: New Vegas' lead creative designer, John Gonzalez, has joined the team behind the Killzone franchise over in Amsterdam.
Back in March of 2011, Gonzalez left Obsidian Entertainment and joined Warner Bros. Gam...

A new patch for Killzone: Mercenary is coming in a few weeks. The patch will reduce the size of the previous patches so more patches can come along and patch the patches with more patches. Patches.
After releasing a pair...

Nov 13 //
Dale North
Killzone: Shadow Fall (PS4)Developer: Guerrilla GamesPublisher: Sony Computer EntertainmentReleased: November 15, 2013MSRP: $59.99
Killzone: Shadow Fall is set some 30 years after Killzone 3, in a time where the ISA and the Helghast are practically next-door neighbors, separated by a massive dividing wall -- a Berlin Wall-type situation. While there are still smaller bouts of fighting, the situation now leans more toward political conflict and distrust. There are two sides of this piece of Vekta, half covered with life and progress, and the other half with slums where refugees are barely scraping by.
So now, instead of going against waves of soldiers in all-out war, the fights in Shadow Fall are small and quiet, and are usually based around secret missions where protagonist Lucas Kellan has to keep a low profile as a covert operative. These are missions that are of the utmost importance to ISA, though Kellan begins to question their importance as he comes to understand the Helgan side of the story.
Shadow Fall is more open than any of the previous games, taking players out of corridors and into vast, open play spaces. In fact, the game’s first area is so large that I got lost in it more than once. I immediately found myself hiding in the bushes, nervous over just how much ground there was to cover. Fans of the series as well as shooter players will notice a new flexibility and openness here, with many stages having multiple options for approaches. For these areas, there are no wrong choices. You’re free to go with what fits your play style and mood best, which is a refreshing change.
It seems that avoiding engagement with any more than a couple of enemies is the going theme for Shadow Fall. It’s you against the Helgan world, so you’re best served by laying low, working to pick off enemies individually if possible. Of course, if you’ve got the chops, you’re free to take on everyone at once. But it seems that Guerrilla built Shadow Fall around more careful play, maybe taking cues from stealth games like Dishonored. This tone makes everything you set out to do feel a bit more meaningful, and that feeling ties in nicely with the game’s story.
Most of the game’s missions have you doing things like sneaking across enemy lines to meet informants, or crawling in ducts to quietly take a target out. It’s stealth right alongside guns-a-blazing, making for a really entertaining mix across the 10 or more hours of the single-player campaign. In some cases, you can choose to play missions either way, though you’ll find a lot of them are best approached carefully.
But you’re not completely alone out there. A remote drone called OWL is at your command, ready to be sent out to peek around corners and get some suppression fire going so that you can take a quick breather. OWL can also set up a temporary shield, jam other shields, hack into enemy security systems, and even send out a zip line for you. To call OWL useful would be an understatement. I don’t think I would have made it through this game without it.
OWL’s control makes use of the DualShock 4’s touch pad, with directional swipes triggering its four main functions. Think of these swipes as a stand-in for more buttons on the controller. For example, to send OWL out to take down baddies, simply swipe upward to turn on its attack mode, move the reticle to where you’d like it to go, and then tap L1. OWL magically appears and starts laying down the hurt. Another tap of L1 brings him back. The zip-line function works the same way: swipe to the right, point, tap L1, and ride down.
Shadow Fall’s objective system is simple and elegant. A tap up on the d-pad will give you a quick reminder of what you’re supposed to be doing as well as turning on a temporary waypoint to head toward. Holding up on the d-pad lets you get a better look at your objective as well as review your past ones.
The rest of the d-pad is used for other abilities, with the most useful being a scanning pulse echo that lets you see the position of enemies and items through walls. Holding down the direction increases the range of the pulse, but holding it too long sends out static that makes your location known to enemies. The opposite direction on the d-pad gives you a shot of adrenaline, which temporarily heals you up as well as slows down time, giving you a short double advantage.
Guerrilla attempts to break up the shooting with sequences with other types of action, though not all of these attempts are as enjoyable as others. Short sequences that have Kellan floating through space were a nice change of pace.
Basic puzzles, mostly relating to unlocking doors or other pathways, reminded me of Dead Space, and were fine. But platforming in first-person is not an easy thing, and trying to do so on narrow platforms while dodging fast-moving obstacles was supremely frustrating. Finally, while the game’s couple of free-fall segments looked great, their control is clunky, which had me dying dozens of times each.
But these sequences are a small issue when factored into the full experience. Shadow Fall’s single-player campaign is well designed, thoroughly challenging, and full of surprises. It’s a journey that takes you from filthy underground ghettos to the top of towering skyscrapers, going up against everything from tiny automated robo-spiders to terrifying, building-sized sentries. There was never a dull moment.
Even if the single-player side of the game is good enough to warrant the price of entry, there’s still a robust multiplayer offering to add to it. Expect three classes, 10 maps, and almost two dozen weapons to play with. This 1080p, high-frame-rate offering will be what keeps you playing your PS4 beyond the launch window.
Among the modes, Wargames have match rules changing over time to keep things lively. You’ll be thrown into games that have you capturing or destroying points alongside your standard deathmatches, all in a random rotation. And speaking of lively, all of the weapons are available from the start.
Instead of fighting to earn experience, you take on challenges during multiplayer to benefit your profile. Your rank goes up as you check items off the challenge list. For example, blowing up an enemy turret will add to your rank.
The action in Shadow Fall’s multiplayer keeps you on your toes, especially in one mode called Paranoia in the Park, where only scouts can play. You get one life, one gun for sniping, and no radar -- it’s kill or be killed. I spent a lot of time in the kill cams in this one. Play is fast, but not so fast that it’s hard to keep up. Being able to use the pulse echo to see all of your enemies within a short range is really nice, though they can see you just as well.
Matches take place across 10 maps, with fights going down anywhere from factories to penthouses to a future indoor shopping center. My favorite has you out in the woods in a wide area with plenty of hiding places in bushes and cave-like rock formations. You can climb up in tree perches to get your snipe on, but you’re a sitting duck for all those in hiding. Having cloaking abilities here makes things particularly interesting.
Guerrilla leaves it up to the players to determine match rule sets. Get as specific as you’d like with weapon requirements, lives, and player types, or leave it all open -- it’s up to you.
Of course, the feel is more important than any mode or progression method. I’m happy to say that Killzone: Shadow Fall is butter smooth in multiplayer, with aiming and movement that feel precise and well-tuned. I’m sure that Guerrilla put some solid work in under the hood to make this happen, but I feel like the DualShock 4’s new sticks and triggers are doing their part as well. I was surprised at just how quickly I became connected with multiplayer’s feel. Never has a game’s multiplayer locked in so quickly for me.
If Killzone: Shadow Fall is what next-gen looks like, I’m pleased. Guerrilla aims to impress right out of the gate, with an opening that shows the high level of detail over what looks like millions of futuristic buildings glimmering in the sunlight.
The full 1080p resolution with a solid framerate never let me down, and I got so used to how that looked that picking up a current-generation shooter right after was almost shocking. Background textures are almost photorealistic in places, and Guerrilla makes excellent use of PS4’s power to light scenes at every opportunity.
My only real visual gripe were the doughy faces and stiff animations in some of the cutscene closeups, though they have no bearing on gameplay. Aside from that, there was the rare set detail that looked poor in comparison to the foreground stuff, and some of the NPC models weren’t up to snuff. But for the most part, Shadow Fall is one hell of a looker.
I like Killzone: Shadow Fall for its change of direction from previous series games, as well as its change of pace over other first-person shooters. Guerrilla has tried a few new things this time around, and should be commended as such. I welcome the almost sandbox-ish level approach, and the stealth segments did a nice job of breaking up the standard shooting action. It’s really nice when gameplay concepts win out over big set pieces and cinematic events.
Oh, and it’s beautiful. A stunner. Killzone: Shadow Fall is the game that will make you happy to own a PS4. This needs to be on your PS4 launch game list.

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If you're into it, you should cop this straight gameplay (starting around...

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As work on Killzone: Shadow Fall wraps up, some members of the development team have transitioned to another project. This isn't an uncommon practice -- certainly not for larger studios like Guerrilla -- but there is a sliver...